From The Bunker: Doomsday Clock, Marvel Cancels Black Panther & More

With comic books becoming more and more popular there seems to be some big news taking place in the industry every day. With so much going on “From The Bunker” is our new feature that’ll be be going over the biggest news topics on a regular basis. For our first edition we go over DC’s Doomsday Clock announcement, one of Black Panther’s comics being canceled, Power Ranger’s sequel, Wonder Woman celebration and more.

Doomsday Clock Strikes For Superman

With “The Button” crossover between Batman and The Flash coming to a close this week in The Flash #22 there was no wasted time in announcing what is next when it comes to The Watchmen’s integration into the DC Universe. With the announcement of the “Doomsday Clock” mini-series Geoff Johns told Blastr “With Rebirth, I opened the door to Manhattan. Part of that was I loved the real-world influence Watchmen has. I put Manhattan out there, and always thought there was a Manhattan/Superman story to be told, but then … it grew”

Going deeper into Johns’ explanation of what “Doomsday Clock” will be there are a lot of exciting possibilities for how things will go. Seeing that Superman and Doctor Manhattan will be the ones to headline the event the DCU could never be the same when these two of the most powerful comic book characters clash. From what Johns said it looks like the battle won’t just be about Superman and Doctor Manhattan trading blows but rather the ideology of how one is filled with hope while the other does not understand that concept.

While Superman and Doctor Manhattan are the focal point of “Doomsday Clock” there are other characters that will most likely be involved. With Johns mentioning Batman during the interview we may see the character play in the background, especially if he does in fact learn that Tim Drake is still alive at the end of “The Button” crossover this week. That could open the door for many other fan favorite characters to make their way back to the DCU that have been lost.

Source: Blastr

Marvel Cancellation Bug Hits Black Panther & The Crew

The bad news just keeps coming from Marvel’s side of the comic book industry as they recently announced that Black Panther And The Crew after only two issues. While the cancellation is not surprising given that Black Panther has never been a big seller and his popularity has yet to hit it’s peak. That popularity won’t happen until his solo movie comes out later next year. What does make this cancellation move a surprise is how quickly Marvel pulled the trigger, as the series is over after just two issues.

This is news that does not breed confidence in any non-Spider-Man, X-Men and Avengers comic book for fans. At the same time, this should be a sign for Marvel that publishing so many ongoing titles is not the best thing for the industry. If Marvel really wants to build their audience they need to focus the core, in this case the Black Panther solo, and allow it to build an audience before going all out with giving multiple titles for an IP that can barely maintain one series.

Instead, Marvel could explore having is more of these series like Black Panther and the Crew starting off as mini-series. That way both the creative teams and fans understand there will be a finite number of issues. And if a mini-series proves popular enough than Marvel can turn them into ongoing series, giving fans more good news than bad.

Source: The Verge

Superman And Wonder Woman No More

During the New 52 we finally saw Superman and Wonder Woman become an official couple in the main DCU. Their relationship started early in Geoff Johns’ Justice League run and continued all the way until New 52’s Superman died before DC Rebirth took place. With the pre-Flashpoint Superman now back as the main Superman there were a lot of questions as to his history in the current DCU, specifically the nature of his past with Wonder Woman.

Now Dan Jurgens has answered that question on Twitter by in a response about Superman’s continuity by saying “We gave the broad strokes in Action, which made things fairly clear. No romantic relationship with WW, for example.”

With that quick answer Jurgens brought up a lot more questions as to how much Superman Reborn affected the greater DCU since the New 52 began. Because not only does this bring into question where Wonder Woman’s history now stands but also what this means for characters like New 52 Connor Kent. It hasn’t been made known if the New 52 Connor Kent exists anymore since neither the Teen Titans nor Superman comics reference the character’s existence. But at least this puts to bed a relationship that never really gained traction with fans.

Source: Bleeding Cool

DC Announces Wonder Woman Day

In other Wonder Woman news, DC Entertainment officially announced that June 3rd will be “Wonder Woman Day.” To commemorate this special day DC is going all out by having more than 2,000 comic retailers, book stores, libraries and other partners host events offering special Wonder Woman-inspired exclusives, fan giveaways, signing events and digital promotions. Additionally, creators like Greg Rucka, Phil Jimenez, Cliff Chiang, Shea Fontana, Marc Andreyko, and Cat Staggs will be participating in their own way.

This is great news for Wonder Woman fans and a cool way to promote the upcoming movie. Given how quite a few people and websites online have criticized Warner Bros and DC Entertainment for “failing” to properly promote Wonder Woman this shuts those people up. Now DC can throw a barrage of advertising by counting down the big release as part of an even bigger celebration of the iconic comic book character. And from the most recent Wonder Woman trailer it looks like DC will have a big winner critically on their hands, something they definitely are in need of after Batman v Superman.

Source: Heroic Hollywood

Power Rangers Movie Sequel Not Happening?

As a Power Rangers fan I will happily admit that the Power Rangers was a pleasant surprise. The Power Rangers movie was by no means a groundbreaking movie but it was a lot of fun with the actors playing the core Rangers doing a great job in their roles. Unfortunately Power Rangers being a surprise with it’s quality did not seem to translate to box office gold.

Not only did it fail to make it’s money back domestically but it has not been a hit internationally as Power Rangers only earned $1.2 million at China’s box office. That takes Power Rangers total global box office gross to $135.5 million against a $100 million budget. As the Forbes article goes over, this makes it likely that we won’t get a sequel to the Power Rangers movie any time soon. That means no Tommy Oliver on the big screen. It is a shame because it did look like Lionsgate had a new franchise on their hands. At least Zack Taylor’s actor, Ludi Lin, has quickly bounced back as he is now part of the cast for the upcoming Aquaman movie.

Source: Forbes